Just heard about this software today from a satisfied user. SftpDrive is a software package for Windows that allows you to map a SSH server as a Windows network drive. This enables you to use a Windows PC for development but to modify files directly on a Linux/Unix server.

It costs to register the software but they have a 6 week free trial. Considering the amount of time I could save during development I think I will be adding this tool to my dev workstation: https://www.eldos.com/sftp-net-drive/

-- Dave

So the new place I work has some small applications built in Apex. I'm getting ready to build some monitoring tools and wanted to integrate their functionality into the apps that are already available.

Looks like Oracle has finally come around and made it easier to incorporate the DBI module into the Oracle HTTP Server. The 10gR2 HTTP Server Administrators guide also has a laundry list of other modules that are enabled by default or easily turned on.

Here is the mod_perl section of the 10gR2 HTTP Server Admininistrators Guide: click here

I found a new graphing/charting tool that I am really digging. I'm letting Munin simmer for a while because it seems like its mostly geared towards being a network admin/reporting tool. I want graphs and I want to make them available on web pages. I'm not asking for much right?

If a browser based Flash solution is a possibility for you, check out XML/SWF Charts by Maani.US.

Writing your own spell checker or creating a page to generate suggestions for Web 2.0 domain names? You need a word list!

Check out this page for a pretty comprehensive collection of different types of lists:

http://wordlist.aspell.net/

-- Dave

If you haven't seen this optimizermagic.blogspot.com post already, check it out.

It covers the standard Execution Plan stuff, but also covers use of the dbms_xplan package including using dbms_xplan.display to format output and using dbms_xplan.display_cursor to see Bind Variables used to generate a plan!

Click here for Article

-- Dave

I'm currently investigating the new hotness of Munin to replace my old and busted gnuplot graphs. Munin looks much more involved than generating a format file for gnuplot and letting it fly, but it looks like Munin handles text on graphs waaaay better than gnuplot.

http://munin.projects.linpro.no/

Check out the purty examples here: Example Site.

-- Dave

I just downloaded and installed the latest version of ActiveState Perl for Win32. After installation I started to hit the laundry list of post-install tasks and noticed that 1) there is a new graphical Perl Package Manager and 2) I couldn't install DBI and DBD-Oracle because they were already installed! No more looking for the old ESoftmatic drivers!

There are some nerdy web comic artists out there. I think its a couple of years old but still gets a chuckle out of me. Click to get the full sized version...

-- Dave

I haven't look at Oracle's Remote Diagnostic Agent (RDA) tool in a couple of years. Back when we ran our systems on Windows I remember using a clunky version of RDA that looked like it was cobbled together with batch files and VB code.

What is RDA? From the Oracle website: